So often in life we want to hide our imperfections. I wonder what would happen if we could tell the whole story– that even when life is good it isn’t perfect?
St. Paul writes to the community in Corinth after a conflict, going right to the problem instead of shying away from it (albeit through a letter). Paul writes of reconciliation, a bringing together of things that have been separated, shattered, split.
We like to think of reconciliation in beautiful terms, and indeed it is. When we skip to the end and see the finished product, we forget that reconciliation actually presupposes brokenness. Reconciliation goes deep into the dark heart of brokenness to restore what has been ripped apart or torn asunder.
Reconciliation is a practice in vulnerability, a trust that two disparate sides can come back together. When we are vulnerable, when we acknowledge the ways in which our lives have been fractured, we allow the light of Christ to seep through our broken bodies and lives and we begin to be healed: in our relationship with ourselves, with God, with others, and with the world.
This message is excerpted from the faith reflection “Vulnerable in community” by Jeni Grangaard in the March 2013 Café online magazine.
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